


Navigator

by orphan_account



Category: TP and BOTW make a brief cameo, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Post-Canon, a bittersweet ending anyway, but it does get better, i find the idea of link's reincarnations very cool and You Can Tell, ish, it starts out very sad, sorta - Freeform, spoilers for the end of ocarina of time, where in the world is navi? find out here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-31 18:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17855129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: She left a week to roamYour protector's coming homeKeep your secrets with you, girlSafe from the outside world





	Navigator

When Navi left him, she’d been hollow.  
Empty.  
He didn’t need her anymore. His adventure was over, and--and he was not a Kokiri. He didn’t need a guardian-fairy. She was unnecessary.  
She’d also been... panicking.  
The _darkness-blackness-pain_ of Ganondorf’s horrid power was still clinging to her wings, his laughter still rang in her ears. She didn’t even know where they were, much less when.  
( _“It was just a lot to take in” was the excuse she told herself for a long, long time._ )  
And with that sickening feeling of uselessness inside of her, she simply... flew away. She ran ( _Like a coward, you wretched creature_ ), ignoring Link’s ever-soft pleas.  
_Wait--where are you going? Please don’t--_  
They were the last words she ever heard him say. At the time, she hadn’t wanted to hear any more.  


Later, though, she would wish often to hear even just a whisper from her silenced friend.  


( _You can’t in good conscience call him a friend, now._ ) 

She flew in an almost-blind panic to the Lost Woods. Saria was there, _not a Sage not a spirit not dead, still there and that’s so very wrong--_  
“How long?” Navi had asked breathlessly.  
“Oh! Welcome back! Where’s Link? Did you deliver the stone safely?”  
“How long have we been gone?”  
“Only about two and a half days. We didn’t expect you back for another week! You must have flown fast.”  
“ _TWO DAYS?!_ ”  
“...Yes?”  
“I’m sorry--I’m sorry, I have to go.” She’d desperately raced to the Deku Tree Sprout.

“Hello,” His voice was high and childlike, but still undeniably his own, which was somewhat relieving. “You need not worry, my daughter. I remember.”  
“You... you do?” Navi had thought it impossible--but then, it was the Great Deku Tree, after all.  
“This is not your Time,” he said simply. “And yet... you must make it so.” He sighed, then, too world-weary for his cherubic face. “The Princess believed she was giving you both a gift, that she was sending you back to a simpler time. The way back is closed to you, now.” He smiled at her gently, but Navi was reeling. “You should go back to him,” he added softly.  
“No.” She’d made up her mind in that cold, marble temple. She was not needed nor wanted.  
With a respectful bow, she left without looking back.

She hadn’t known where to go, once she’d gone. In her old life, she’d never imagined she would even leave the forest. So... she went nowhere. And everywhere, she supposed. She wandered all over Hyrule and its surrounding territories and provinces, seeing everything that could be seen.  
( _As if it could fill the void you made._ )  
While absently watching the patrons of a backwater tavern in Eldin, she heard that a plot against the crown had been discovered, and the perpetrator--the Gerudo Chief--had been banished by the Princess. Supposedly, seven spirits, each surrounded by blinding golden light, had stuck a spear into his chest... with the help of a ten-year-old boy the young Princess kept calling the Hero of Time.  
Navi was glad that Ganondorf was no longer a threat, but... she couldn’t escape _him_ even in the farthest reaches of the kingdom. It rang hollow and bitter in her heart.  
She left for Termina almost immediately, hoping to put Hyrule behind her forever.

She lasted for about a month before being spotted by two fairy siblings ( _What were you doing so far from home?_ ), and subsequently heading for Clock Town. She’d hoped the hustle and bustle of the city would hide her for the time being, before knowledge of her reappearance inevitably made its way back to the Deku Tree.  
It was another month before she heard there would be a festival in about a week, and she did _not_ want to deal with that.  
She left again.

She made her way back to the Lost Woods, needing some sort of sanctuary. She took about two weeks, stopping for more than a few detours.  
When she returned, she found her old home abuzz with something in between excitement and panic.  
“ _Navi!_ “ Saria-but-not-Saria burst. “Where have you _been_? No, nevermind that—have you seen Link?”  
“What?” Navi asked, dumbfounded. “Of course not.”  
Briefly, Not-Saria’s face was furious, and Navi saw a bit of the Sage in her, but it was gone as quick as it came.  
“What happened?”  
“Link came here,” Not-Saria explained slowly, gently, “about two and a half months ago, asking if anyone had seen you recently.”  
Navi inhaled sharply.  
“You’d vanished, obviously, but we’d just heard from a few rogues that they’d seen you in Termina. So we told him to go there. And... he comes back about three weeks later. Assuming he traveled on Epona, he couldn’t have spent more than three days over there.”  
“Saria, what is your point?”  
“He wasn’t the same after he came back the first time, you know. He was still _Link,_ but he was older somehow, and darker, and he never spoke a word to any of us. Not even me.” She turned to glare at Navi. “But at least _he_ visited once or twice.”  
“Saria--“ Navi sighed. She was... tired. Incredibly tired. “Get to the point.”  
“When he came back from Termina... Goddesses above, we barely recognized him.” Saria looked almost--almost mournful, now, and Navi felt a pang in her chest.  
“What happened?”  
“We don’t know! He came in here, desperate and panicky, but he still wouldn’t speak--so we didn’t know what he needed! He kept jumping back whenever we got close, waving his sword around, so we just let him run to the Deku Tree Sprout. He talked to Link for a few minutes, but only in his mind, so we don’t know what he said. Then Link just sort of... left. He didn’t even wave goodbye.” Not-Saria sighed. “Navi... do you know what happened out there?”  
“No,” she replied, horror striking her nearly hoarse, “I have no idea.”  
She raced to the Sprout.  
_-Ah… Navi, my daughter.-_  
“Great Deku Tree--please,” her voice broke. “Link--what they’re all saying--”  
_-Why did you leave, child?-_  
“I--what?”  
_-Why did you abandon us--abandon him?-_  
“I was no longer needed,” she said adamantly. She had to believe that, or everything the past few months had brought her had been for nothing.  
The sprout--well, more a sapling now--shook his head sadly.  
_-I… I am not disappointed in you, Navi. How could I be, after all you’ve been through?-_  
Navi’s heart dropped.  
_-But by Hylia, you are a fool.-_  
His echoing voice was kind and quiet, but she shuddered all the same.  
“What happened?” she whispered.  
_-You left. The great Hero of Time went to search for his lost friend. He became entangled in powers beyond comprehension, in a land where the ticking clock is celebrated, and the dead do not rise to the Spirit Realm. He had to save the world once again… but this time, nearly alone.-_  
Navi’s hands had risen to cover her mouth without her realizing it.  
_-The details are not mine to share. It is suffice to say that even I was shaken to my roots.-_ He sighed, a great rustle of leaves. _-Regardless of what transpired, Navi, the fact remains that you were absent, and the Hero of Time’s already-broken spirit was shattered.-_  
“I must go see him!” Her throat was unbearably tight, and the tears in her eyes had nearly spilled over.  
_-You cannot.-_  
“Wh-what?”  
_-He has found some semblance of peace, in the past few days. If you return to him now, you threaten to shatter it.-_  
Navi hated that she understood.  
“Please then, Great Deku Tree--let me see him. Just… just see him, nothing more.”  
_-Hmm… very well, daughter. His sanctuary should be familiar to you. Go to the place where he found his most loyal companion. You are familiar with his song-horse, I believe.- ___  
“I… I am.”  
_-Good.-_  
He sighed once more.  
_-You will always be welcome here, Navi.-_  
She did not answer, and instead turned to find Lon Lon Ranch.

She didn’t like remembering that day.  
The day she finally, finally saw him again.  
When she left him, they’d been broken. Slowly worn away, by the ravages of Time and the monstrosities they’d faced together.  
He’d still been himself, though. He’d still been _Link._  
This boy--this shell of a child--was not him.  
She’d arrived early in the morning, before even a reasonable hour for a farmer, in order to move freely for a moment. To sort of… scout.  
He’d already been awake. The darkness, like bruises, around his eyes begged the question of whether he’d slept at all. Link-but-not-Link was holding an unfamiliar sword, and he was practicing drills. It had not been an uncommon sight before, even during their first quest for the spiritual stones, but… this was somehow different.  
His hands were shaking.  
The sword’s point trembled in the air, unsteady. The grip that held the hilt was weakened by the tremors. He’d be disarmed in an instant.  
He wavered on his feet, slightly. More evidence towards a lack of sleep.  
His eyes were so, so much older than ten.  
Even, Navi realized with some horror, even while he had been seventeen he’d still been ten. But now, in the child’s body he was supposed to be in, he was far too old.  
It sent shivers down her spine.  
A girl appeared. Malon, Navi remembered. She came up behind him, and gently placed her hand on Not-Link’s arm. He flinched, violently, but the tension in his stance diminished when he saw her.  
“Come back inside,” she said softly. He nodded.

Navi flew away, never to return. ( _Again._ ) 

She only ever saw him once more.  
It was many years later, of that she was certain.  
He was in golden armor, and Hylia’s light reflected off of it for all to see, as he held a simple sword up high.  
She’d only vaguely noticed he was missing an eye, she was far too enraptured by what she saw.  
He'd... regained a bit of himself, a piece of what he'd lost all those years ago. His hand did not tremble, and in the blinding light, she could have sworn she saw three triangles upon it.  
It was the first time she’d been happy in what must have been at least twenty years.  


She never learned when he died, or how, but upon feeling the severing of that last bit of their soul-bond, she’d fainted for three straight days from the pain.

She became a denizen of the Lost Woods, then, but not in the Kokiri’s little clearing. She befriended the Stalfos, the Skull Children, the swirling mist and the heavy darkness. They called her the Forsaken Guardian, and she would have laughed at the irony if she could only remember how.

She’d found herself in Faron woods, one day, with little memory of how she got there. She’d had little memory of any recent events those days, besides the passage of time, so it didn’t bother much.  
But… she came across a small village.  
Villages in Faron were few and far between, since most found its rather feral atmosphere intolerable.  
It certainly wasn’t much—a few homes, a few small businesses, next to nothing in the way of defense, lots of goats.  
But by the Goddesses, there he was. It was him. It was his hair and his face and his eyes, and—  
Oh.  
No, this was not him. He had his face, yes, and his hair, his old-blue eyes and his soft voice and his shy smile, but it was not _him_ , and she nearly broke down screaming right then and there.  
It had been nearly two hundred years since she’d heard of Link’s falling, she realized rather suddenly. Longer, since she’d seen him.  
This boy... his successor, then. She should have known better than to doubt the Great Deku Tree’s old story about the Chaos God’s curse.  
She followed the boy around for a bit—silently, hiding in the shadows, but there all the same. She wondered briefly if she would become a protector again.  
After what had happened to her last charge, though, she doubted that would be the case. 

This boy was as much of a trouble-magnet as his predecessor had been, if the dark, grotesque monsters from another realm were any indication.  
The icy fingers of twilight left her horrified and burning with _cold_ in a way she hadn’t felt since the fight beneath the well in Kakariko, so long ago.  
( _Huh. That thing was probably still there, unless Link went to slay it. Again_ )  
She sought shelter, later, with the newly-recovered Faron spirit. During her flight, she briefly whizzed past a golden wolf.  
_Odd_ , she’d thought, and her soul pulled at it for a moment, before her wings took her out of sight.

She lived thousands more years. 

She didn’t look for the Heroes. It had been nice, she supposed, to see his face in the village boy, but it was never _him_ , and so it did not matter. She heard of them in rumors--the Four Sword had been found again--and subsequently lost, again--for one. That was somewhat surprising. And one Hero, with the support of thousands of Sheikah creatures, had been so wildly successful that neither hide nor hair of Ganon( _dorf? She wasn’t sure anymore_ ) had been seen in thousands of years. Even her own hero had faded into mere legend, almost a deity himself, which she knew would embarrass him to no end ( _if only he were here to see it_ ). 

She watched with bone-deep sadness as the Kokiri gradually vanished into the trees they came from, and ever-so-slowly reemerge as Koroks. She watched as hundreds of guardian-fairies became as she was--alone and, missing the better half of their souls. She watched as so many of them disappeared into the Lost Woods from grief.  
Koroks didn’t need guardians-fairies, not when they were nearly fairies themselves. 

She came across him accidentally. She’d taken up her wandering habit again, in the peaceful years following the long-ago last Hero. She’d come up on a simple house in a little-but-bright village she didn’t know the name of, and she’d felt it--that little tugging at her soul she’d attributed to _his_ successors.  
She knew better than to look.  
Too late, though, because a little boy had run outside, smiling and giggling and chasing the wind.  
He--he looked--  
He looked just like him, this one. In more than his hair and his face and his old-blue eyes ( _It had taken her longer than she wanted to admit to puzzle out why they always looked so old, so world-weary_ ).  
The Hero of Time’s soul burned bright in this child, and her throat was so incredibly tight.  
“Hello,” he said softly, his voice nearly a whisper.  
“Hi,” she managed. He held out his hand and smiled shyly.  
“I’m Link.”  
“I’m Navi,” she put her tiny fingers on his own, and they mimed shaking hands.  
“I’m gonna go play in the woods. Do you wanna come?”  
“I would love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> I always wondered what on Earth happened to Navi. I couldn't find any reason given in-game as for why she just... left. Obviously Link didn't know either, since he went to go look for her, so it always seemed very odd. I wanted to fill in the blanks, I guess, so this happened. oops.
> 
> Also, OoT Link had it rough, man. Like geez.
> 
> Anyways, if anyone wants to know, the lyrics in the summary are from Your Protector by Fleet Foxes.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
